


A Living Question Mark

by averita



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Established Relationship, F/F, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-19
Updated: 2018-02-19
Packaged: 2019-03-21 01:20:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13730091
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/averita/pseuds/averita
Summary: “Kara, if this is some sort of joke with a cat punchline, I’m going to fire you and break up with you at the same time.”Kara has a secret, and Cat isn't happy.





	A Living Question Mark

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Motorcyclegrrl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Motorcyclegrrl/gifts).



It’s been some time since Kara has bothered with pretense for her Supergirl-related disappearances, at least with Cat, who does her own share of covering up her girlfriend’s activities now that she’s privy to them. Thank God, too. Kara’s lying has somehow gotten worse with time, and Cat doesn’t have the heart to tell her that half of CatCo is in on the secret but care about her enough to keep it. 

She doesn’t think anything of it that Kara is late to work - it happens sometimes, and even when Kara spends the night, most days she’s out the door before Cat’s even showered to deal with whatever early-morning emergencies demand her attention. Kara knows to text if anything particularly dangerous comes up - and if not Kara, then her sister - so it’s not cause for concern, though Cat does breathe a little easier (as she always does) when she finally has eyes on her an hour later, even without an explanation. 

It stands out, though, when Kara nearly misses the weekly editorial meeting. Cat hadn’t even realized she’d left again until the meeting starts and Kara, usually first to arrive, shuffles in ten minutes late with the familiar slouch of someone who doesn’t want to be noticed, and is all the more noticable for it. Cat arches a brow but doesn’t comment until the conference room empties out. Kara looks longingly at her retreating colleagues, but doesn’t bother trying to follow them. 

“Did I miss a news alert?” Cat asks, giving Kara a quick once-over that’s more assessing than sexy. Kara shrugs, a nervous laugh bubbling on her lips, and then she goes for her glasses. Even if Cat was inclined to believe her babbled explanation of a fire in a food truck (which, admittedly, would probably be a priority for Supergirl), that would have been enough to set her alarm bells off. 

She purses her lips but says nothing, accepting Kara’s quick kiss and promise of a late lunch.

When she stops by Kara’s office on her way out, she’s vanished again, though her sweater still hangs on her chair and a half-finished article blinks on her computer screen. Cat frowns, thinks about texting her but decides to wait, and when Kara shows up at her door just in time for dinner there’s nothing to indicate that it’s been anything but a normal day. 

Carter falls asleep halfway through their third screening of _Black Panther_ this week (it won’t be out on DVD for months but Carter doesn’t like movie theaters and Ryan Coogler owed her a favor). After Cat’s shooed him off to bed, she settles in next to Kara on the couch and tugs one of Kara’s arms around her shoulder. “Why don’t you stay tonight?” she asks, snuggling closer and tilting her face up to meet Kara’s eyes and flick her own down to Kara’s lips. 

Kara smiles, that sweet bashful smile that Cat has loved for longer than she likes to admit even to herself, and the kiss that follows starts off just as sweetly. But Cat’s not in the mood for sweet, not after a long week where she’s had to put out more fires at CatCo than Kara has around all of National City. She deepens the kiss, settling a knee on either side of Kara’s lap, and reveling in the startled, pleased sound that comes from somewhere deep in Kara’s throat.

They kiss for a long time even as Cat makes quick work of Kara’s cardigan, her hands wandering up and down the arms that can lift her so effortlessly or hold her in place; she curls her fingers through Kara’s, tracing the deceptive softness, and pulls them up to settle over her breasts. Kara smiles into the kiss, pulling back just far enough for Cat to see the crinkles around her hooded eyes. 

“The bedroom,” Cat pants, hooking her fingers through the belt loops of Kara’s pants. “Come on.” She starts to stand up, pulling Kara with her. 

Kara doesn’t soften herself the way she usually does, though, and Cat nearly falls back on top of her as she tugs fruitlessly. Kara quickly moderates her strength, a flush high on her cheeks, but Cat glares anyway as she pulls away and straightens - the mood hasn’t been ruined, but it’s certainly dampened. “ _What_?” she snaps, aiming for irritated but landing somewhere closer to desperate.

Kara’s flush deepens. “I - I really want to stay, but I have a...I have a thing.” She looks away, raising her eyes to the ceiling in what Cat sincerely hopes is mortification. 

“A _thing_?” Cat demands, annoyance rising more quickly than usual. Just when it was getting good…

She exhales forcefully, pulling away to look at Kara more closely as her odd behavior and disappearances these last 24 hours come into clearer focus. 

“What on earth is going on with you? If this is the same _thing_ that you were dealing with earlier? Because we both know if Espo’s had really caught fire, you’d be a lot mopier than you are now.” 

Kara blushes harder, still not looking directly at Cat. “No, it’s just -”

“And you were gone again when I left,” Cat continues, little alarm bells starting to sound in her head. “I’m going to assume it’s not a secret girlfriend, because, well -” she pointedly gestures at herself, “but you’re not telling me _something_ , and you know how I feel about secrets in this relationship. Is something going on?” 

Kara sighs heavily, looking up at the ceiling again as though begging for strength. “It’s not a secret girlfriend,” she finally mumbles. “Or anything - you know, super. It’s just....” she squirms, clearly trying to hide the tiny, sheepish smile that tugs at her lips. “I, uh, I got a dog.”

That...was not what Cat was expecting.

“You - what?” She stares. 

“It's just,” Kara falters, grabbing Cat’s hand and blinking earnestly. “I didn’t know how to tell you - I didn’t exactly plan this, and I know how you feel about dogs -”

“Needy, bark incessantly, slobbery, and unhygienic,” Cat supplies. 

“Right, but Luca - he’s so sweet, Cat, and Alex helped me bathe him and he doesn’t slobber at all - well, hardly at all - and he was stuck in a gutter and would have _died_ if I just left him there. His leg was broken so Alex patched him up but he still needs to be monitored and taken out and fed, so…” Kara’s rambling trails off. “I can’t leave him alone overnight. I _want_ to stay,” she says again, eyes beseeching.

Cat sighs again, lifting her free hand to her forehead to rub at her temples before sitting back down next to Kara. “And of course you couldn’t drop him off at a shelter, or any of the hundreds of organizations that care for stray and injured animals…”

“I was going to,” Kara insists. “Really. I mean, I still can. But Cat…” she shakes her head. “He just - when I found him, he was in so much pain, you know? I think he’d been stuck for awhile and he kept whimpering, but he let me pick him up and as soon as I did he got quiet. Even when Alex set his leg - it’s like he knew he could trust us, he didn’t fight us at all. And he wasn’t really hungry, we kept trying to get him to eat, until I finally gave him a potsticker and he went for it.” Kara’s mouth twitches again, and Cat groans, leaning forward to rest her head on her hands.

“For God’s sake,” she grumbles, but there’s little heat in it. “You can barely fit yourself in that apartment, much less a dog. And he’ll go crazy cooped up inside, there’s nowhere in your neighborhood for a dog to run around."

Kara’s face falls. “People have dogs in apartments all the time -” she protests, sounding hurt, but Cat cuts her off.

“Chester and Susan are going to be _furious_ ,” she laments, imagining her beloved, non-clingy, _quiet_ cats sharing a space with a dog - in her head she’s picturing a massive wrinkly thing, ugly and pitiful - and shuddering. “But Carter will be delighted. The yard is already fenced in, of course, so we’ll just need to put in some sort of door because I am _not_ getting up at 5 AM to let him out. And he isn’t allowed in the bedroom. Ever.” She pretends she believes it, just for the sake of her pride.

The confusion that had crinkled Kara’s expression melts into something hopeful and disbelieving. “Wait - _you_ want him? You hate dogs.”

“I love _you_ ,” Cat counters, pretending to scoff as Kara’s entire face lights up. “So if you come with a dog, well, I already put up with your sister. This can’t be worse than that.”

Kara laughs, kissing Cat breathless, and yes, _this_ \- this is worth a thousand dogs, a thousand terrifying sisters, all of the pain and fear and potential for heartbreak. This is worth everything.

“Just to clarify,” Kara asks when they break apart, “you want me to come with Luca, right? Like, is this you asking me to move in with you?”

“You’d better,” Cat says sternly. “I’m not taking care of this thing. This is all you.”

Kara literally squeals, and Cat wonders helplessly when she became the sort of woman who melts at such ridiculous displays, who opens her heart and her home so freely and is happier than she’s ever been for it. 

“You’re going to love him,” Kara insists, pulling out her phone to scroll through - God, _hundreds_ of photos of what Cat supposes is their dog - as Cat sighs and rolls her eyes and denies it.

Not so long ago, though, she’d never have imagined loving someone like Kara, and as she watches Kara take off to pick up their dog and bring him home, she suspects that Kara is probably right.

**Author's Note:**

> Title from "Dog" by Lawrence Ferlinghetti. 
> 
> This was written for motorcyclegrrl as thanks for her support for the real-life Luca. To meet and learn more about him, visit [my Tumblr](http://catelyngrant.tumblr.com/post/170739106760/click-here-to-support-lucas-surgery)!


End file.
